New Speaker BLOCKS attempts to get Big Ben bonging for Brexit

The campaign for Big Ben to bong specially to celebrate the moment Independence is achieved on the 31st of January looks to have been scuppered.

An amendment to the withdrawal agreement bill to require the famous bell to be re-attached at 11pm on Brexit day has not been selected by parliamentary offcials to be debated.

The decision is a blow to scores of hard Brexit-backing Tory MPs, including David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, who had signed a Commons motion demanding the move.

The 315ft, Grade I listed Elizabeth Tower which holds the bell and clock face is undergoing a £61m restoration in which costs have already more than doubled.

But there is still hope with Downing Street planning events to mark the moment the UK leaves the European Union, after nearly 47 years – without saying what – and could yet renew the push for Big Ben to bong.

Nigel Farage is planning to throw a £100,000 party in Parliament Square on 31 January, with fireworks, bands and speakers.

MPs are about to begin three days of detailed scrutiny of the withdrawal bill, which after Boris Johnson’s election triumph is likely to sail through unchanged.